#eyeopening #soulsearching #castbonding
By Dierdree Glassford, SMCC Theater Club Director

Two months, a ton of paperwork, and an endless amount of excitement later, SMCC’s Theater Club, The Cliffhangers, finally made 

their first ever trip to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. KCACTF is an opportunity like no other for people in the theater world, offering over 250 workshops in all aspects of theater, the best productions from colleges in the New England area and intensive competitions for actors and technicians alike.

When planning the trip group leaders Alexander Balzano and Dierdree Glassford knew that it was the perfect way to bond their group members and spark inspiration and passion in them. We also knew it would be the perfect way to kick start their spring semester. A solid group of 11 eager students volunteered to attend the trip, and over the course of a month they all stayed loyally committed to the process. One of our most passionate and loyal members, Missouri Williams, had planned to join but was kept from participating due to a hospital stay. Before she was hit with the news she said, “I can’t wait to attend the festival. It would be a dream come true, I am so excited.” It’s not the same without her, and we all send our best wishes and good energy for her speedy recovery.

Arriving at the festival with just enough time to make it to the first invited production, Painting Alice, a new musical written by William Donnelly and produced by Bridgewater State University, you could feel the anticipation. A grown-up adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland, the production was filled with wonderful new music, extreme visuals, and a familiarity that the group was enamored by.

Both this production and the rest of the festival made an impact. “It was the most inspirational experience of my life,” first year student Cam Arsenault said, “I was so blown away by the talent!” From there The Cliffhangers were hooked! Every day they attended diverse workshops, each of them picking and choosing to attend the ones that played to their individual interests and skill sets. Two members out of our brave group, Thomas Henley and Anthony Marvin, decided to take on an audition for the National Playwright Program’s ten minute one acts, and Mr. Marvin was actually cast in Dinner With Friends, by Kirk Botcher. Marvin said, that “…the 10-minute plays forced me to push myself harder in the audition process than I had ever worked before. Seeing all the absolute talent in the room elevated my own skills and confidence because of the intense competition.”

A huge part of the festival is networking with other people who love your art as much as you do. This week, many of the prod

uctions we saw and workshops we went to were run by either new friends, or old ones. As a group we attended Brianne Beatrice’s master “Meisner workshop,” learning how to get on our action, and be real with our acting. We learned that acting is “Truthful behavior in imaginary circumstances.”

Immediately after that we all went to support our new friends from La Guardia Community College at their original and remarkable production of Unpacking Home. It was a documentary play, addressing the issue of homelessness in their NYC community. Member Brittany Turner had this to say about her experience, “The week has left me speechless, yet full of words. The words of fellow actors and friends, of passionate instructors, and the words of magnificent works, original or not.” An extreme eye opener, our entire group was moved and inspired by the production’s raw content and true stories, our group showed their immediate interest in producing a similar project in the future.

The Cliffhangers are a fairly new club on the SMCC campus, and being only a year into their foundation have already started to make waves in their community. Thomas Henley, another first year student said, “KCACTF has been a great experience. Between everything we have learned from the workshops and seeing all the amazing things the other schools from the region have been doing, we’re all feeling really motivated to push the theater community at SMCC forward even harder.”

As the group’s director/producer, I hope to make the trip to KCACTF an annual event, and want to have SMCC students actually competing in the festival in the following years. I have been a competitor with KCACTF for the past 4 years and it has completely transformed my life. I wanted to bring the same positive change to our members, show them that there are so many possibilities in this wonderful field, and so

many things to accomplish if we just follow our motto of Positive Forward Movement.

I could not have been happier with the effect this experience has had on our members. The Cliffhangers president, Alexander Balzano said, “This trip has taught me to be a better leader, both in the dynamics of our group and in the theater world. All of the lessons I’ve gathered here will help me to be able to encourage theater here at SMCC in a way that’ll put us on the map.”

Want to become involved with The Cliffhangers? The perfect opportunity to become a part of our theater family and possibly have the chance to join us on next years trip to KCACTF is coming your way! SMCC’s student-directed One Acts will be put up this April and is open to all SMCC students, no experience required! Ever think you might want to try your hand at directing? Want to be one of the many actors we will need to make it all happen? If so, contact Dierdree Glassford at dierdreeg@yahoo.com for more information! Be quick, spots will fill up fast!